The Turbo Championship of Online Poker series has arrived, starting today with a $215 no-limit hold'em "ultra-deep" kickoff event with a big $500,000 guarantee.

Goes without saying things got off to a fast start, what with TCOOP events generally featuring five-minute levels and rapidly-paced events. Sure enough it only took Brazil's Renato Akio "kaneoya" Kaneoya just over six-and-a-half hours to secure the first title of the series, earning a cool $75,177.11 following a heads-up deal.

A heckuva hourly rate, that.

Renato Akio "kaneoya" Kaneoya

Late registration lasted two hours for this one, and with a little over 10 minutes to go the total entrants pushed up over 2,500, meaning the prize pool passed that $500K mark. Ultimately 2,774 entered, making a total of $554,800 to be divided among the top 332 finishers.

From there it was right around the three-and-a-half-hour mark when the bubble burst, and with 332 left dujo123 had ridden to the top having already spun the deep 50,000-chip starting stack up over 1.5 million.

dujo123 hung on for a while longer, but soon slipped to finish 262nd ($602.34). Making a deeper run was Lex Veldhuis of Team PokerStars Pro Online -- he got all of the way to 48th ($1,111.93).

Team Online's Lex Veldhuis

A little while later they were partway into the tournament's sixth hour when just 18 remained, with comegethappy then sitting in the top spot with a big chip lead and nearly 18.4 million.

Balazs "birs320" Botond (18th) was the next out, earning $2,150.84. He was swiftly followed by Ezequiel "TEENageTuRtL" Kleinman (17th), Yuri "theNERDguy" Martins (16th), Guajev (15th), and oleg_dagi (14th), each of whom picked up $2,991.42 for their efforts.

Next to go were flauschi16 (13th) and yaoyuwei (12th), and after slipping in the counts comegethappy (11th). Hand-for-hand play started, and soon T3G3S was knocked out (10th), like the last three eliminated players earning $4,160.50.

With Renato Akio "kaneoya" Kaneoya the chip new leader with almost 30 million, the final table had begun.

On the fifth hand of the final table, king_one862 open-raised all in from middle position for just under 5.8 million (not quite six big blinds) and Andrew "achen" Chen called from the next seat over. king_one862 had A♥6♣ and needed help against Chen's Q♣Q♦. But a queen on the flop gave Chen a set that improved to a full house by the turn, leaving king_one862 drawing dead to finish ninth.

Just two hands later, Renato Akio "kaneoya" Kaneoya raised to 2.1 million from the cutoff, LEHMATLENTAA shoved for about 8.65 million total over the big blind, and Kaneoya called. LEHMATLENTAA had A♦J♥ but was pipped by Kaneoya's A♥Q♦, and after a T♣4♠6♥8♦9♥ runout LEHMATLENTAA was done in eighth.

They almost made it through another orbit before the next knockout came. The blinds were still 500K/1M when Nathaniel "natfalber11" Falber open-pushed for a little under 5.2 million from under the gun, and Kaneoya was the caller again, this time from the button. Falber had A♠T♠ and Kaneoya Q♦Q♠, and five cards later -- 8♣T♥4♣Q♥2♠ -- Kaneoya had a set and Falber only a pair, meaning the latter was eliminated in seventh.

A couple of minutes later, Andrew "achen" Chen -- having just lost a big one versus PeroQmaloSoy -- was down to less than ante and was automatically all in before the deal. PeroQmaloSoy then limped for 1.2 million from early position, Kaneoya raised to 3.3 million from the next seat, and PeroQmaloSoy called. The flop came all spades -- 4♠6♠A♠ -- and both players still with chips checked. Then after the Q♣ turn Kaneoya bet into the side pot and PeroQmaloSoy stepped aside.

Kaneoya had Q♥Q♦ (again), and had made a set (again), while Chen had Q♠6♥, the two pair no good but a flush possibility still there. The 6♣ on the river then made Chen a full house but Kaneoya's was better, and Chen fell in sixth.

Andrew "achen" Chen

The six-hour mark came and went, then not quite 15 minutes later the blinds were up to 1.2M/2.4M when Kaneoya open-raised all in from UTG and Jansons55 called for just over 8.7 million from the small blind. Kaneoya had A♥J♣ and Jansons55 A♦9♠, and the 8♥K♦9♦ flop made it appear as though Janson55 might survive. But the turn was the J♥ to give Kaneoya a better pair, and after the 5♥ river Janson55 was done in fifth.

Five minutes after that PeroQmaloSoy open-pushed from the button and was called by Anil Kumar "BigBlufferAY" Yadav in the big blind who had a little more than 20 million (just over 7 BBs). Yadav had the preflop edge with A♠J♣ against PeroQmaloSoy's K♥4♥, but the board ran out 3♦2♠7♠K♣8♣ to give PeroQmaloSoy kings and send Yadav to the rail in fourth.

Soon it was big stack Kaneoya open-raising from the button, and this time sim.sut called all in from the small blind for just under 25 million. Kaneoya had A♣8♠ and sim.sut 9♠9♦, and a flop of 8♥T♦8♣ suddenly put Kaneoya ahead with trips. The turn was the 4♣ and river the 3♥, sim.sut was out in third.

At that the remaining two soon paused the tournament to talk about a deal, with Kaneoya at 80,533,896 (about 25 BBs) and PeroQmaloSoy with 58,166,104 (just over 18 BBs).

Numbers were proposed, giving Kaneoya about $2K more and leaving $11,096 on the table for which to play, but PeroQmaloSoy wanted an even 50-50 chop. After a bit of thought Kaneoya agreed, and the deal having been made they set about determining who'd get the title and extra $11K-plus.

It only took a few minutes more, by which point Kaneoya had built up to more than 98 million while PeroQmaloSoy had slipped to just over 40 million. A hand then arose in which PeroQmaloSoy limped in for 3.6 million from the button, Kaneoya jammed, and PeroQmaloSoy called.

kaneoya: T♣T♠PeroQmaloSoy: A♥9♠

The flop fell 9♥T♦2♠, pairing PeroQmaloSoy but giving Kaneoya yet another set at the final table. The turn was the 2♣, making Kaneoya another full house, and that meant the K♦ was no matter -- Kaneoya had won!

Congrats to Renato Akio "kaneoya" Kaneoya for knocking out six of eight at the final table to capture the first TCOOP title of the series, and kudos also to PeroQmaloSoy for making it to heads-up and chopping.

With Event #1, the TCOOP is just getting started. Check the TCOOP home page for the full schedule of events, and bookmark the page to follow along as more results and stats from the series start to come.